Screwball Pharmacist

     Opened on March 14th, "Better Living Through Chemistry", is a quirky, offbeat, dark comedy unlike any film you have ever seen.  Maybe I should say that it's like about twenty other movies you've seen.  Starring Sam Rockwell, Olivia Wilde, and Michelle Monaghan, the movie starts with an entire town in miniature and the credit titles embedded into the scenery.  A very creative way to present credits and one of the high points of the flick.  
     The plot concerns one Doug Varney, played wonderfully by Sam Rockwell.  Varney is a defeated, shell of a man, because nothing in his life seems to be in his control.  His wife Kara Varney (Monaghan) is an athletic trainer who "motivates" her students with drill instructor zeal.  Of course she has her husband completely dominated.  So we see Varney sleepwalk his way through life.  I was saddened to see how hopeless this character is.  Very well acted by Rockwell.                                          Enter chanteuse Elizabeth Roberts, played by Olivia Wilde, as a pill popping, boozing, blonde bombshell trapped in a loveless marriage.  A chance meeting between the boozy trophy wife and the straight laced pharmacist opens Doug up to all sorts of fun.  Can you predict what happens next? They have a torrid affair, drink alcohol like a couple of college kids and, at Elizabeth's suggestion, "enhance" their lives with pharmaceuticals from Dougs drug store.  Of course someone comes up with the idea to kill Elizabeth's abusive husband an viola'!  Match made in Hollywood heaven!  Laughable, to be sure, but in between the chuckles a certain guilt came over me.  Should I be laughing at people behaving in what seems like reprehensible ways?  Chemistry is played so over the top it is farcical in nature.  As such it works, but just barely.  I liked this film and I love Sam Rockwell.  It just could have been a whole lot better.  This film is in theaters right now but also can be watched at home by renting it through Comcast, I-tunes, or Amazon.  It is an enjoyable movie but it tries so hard to be funny and in the end it just misses the mark. I suggest renting and making popcorn.
I give this film a Grade of: C+